“After World War I, the value of 5 cents plummeted, but streetcars had to get approval from municipal commissions for any fare hikes — and the idea of the 5-cent fare had become ingrained as something of a birthright among many members of the public. The public had little sympathy for the traction magnates who’d entered into these contracts. Today, many progressives and urbanists are boosters of streetcars, but back then they were often seen as a bastion of corruption — especially because of their owners’ history of violent strike-breaking. Because of these factors, some streetcar companies began going into bankruptcy as early as the 1920s.”
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/7/8562007/streetcar-history-demise
Related posts:
How has this not led to outright revolution yet?
Fifteen Benefits of the War on Drugs
The Overcriminalization of America: Are We All Criminals Now?
How to Become the British Monarch
Let’s shatter the myth on Glass-Steagall
Understand the Emergence of the Marijuana Meme - Even In China
Bill Bonner: The Curse of Lawrence of Arabia [2002]
The Supreme Court Case That Handed America Over to the Bankers
Privacy and the Government's Dossier on You
The Social Deterioration of Funny, Floating Money
I Wish My Job Didn't Exist
Sitka Pacific Strategy Letter, August 2013
John Hussman: Judging the Future at a Speculative Peak
Fred Reed: Terrorism in Boston
Spare us the hypocrisy over chemical weapons, America.